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Adox Silvermax – Second Impressions in D76/ID11

Following on from an earlier post which detailed the results from my first roll of Rodinal developed Adox Silvermax, I thought some film users might want to see the second. No artistic masterpieces here I’m afraid (are there ever?) – these are test shots!

This seems like a good result – an excellent range from highlight to shadow.

The difference here is the developer – Ilford ID11 (identical to Kodak’s D76). I wanted to see how much the Rodinal developer which enhances sharpness was increasing the graininess of the final images – so ID11 seemed worth a try as it produces results which have less apparent sharpness, but also less grain.

On with the results – all taken on an Olympus OM2N and various Zuikos, developed for 9 minutes in ID11 stock. Scanned on a Plustek 7500 scanner using the ‘Agfa APX100’ profile which seemed to give a better result than the ‘no profile’ scans of the last test.

First shot – you may have seen this location before in previous posts – and a nice clear day with a pale blue sky.

Nothing to complain about here – nice dynamic range – similar to APX100,

And a small section enlarged.

The IDll developer has done a very nice job here – noticably more even than Rodinal.

Next one – again a standard test subject for me – and another sharp, fine grained result.

There’s an odd band of lighter grey along the very top of the frame here – it’s not on any other shots so I’m not sure what caused it. Easily cropped out if required though.

An enlargement from the centre of the frame.

Good sharpness again – this is good!

And one from the top left.

This small sample shows a more pleasing grain than the Rodinal developed film – more even and less ‘clumpy’.

The verdict then – as a confirmed Rodinal user I’m reluctant to admit that ID11 has done a better job. The grain is more even and less obvious, but the sharpness isn’t noticably reduced. The difference isn’t huge, but it’s significant. As an aside, to see just how good Adox CMS20 is (at the expense of 3 stops of film speed at ISO12) check here which is the same subject.

One odd thing – the film counter numbers on the film edges of this roll were ‘doubled up’ so the roll finished on shot 78. This obviously makes no diffence to the final shots.

Whatever you develop it in, Silvermax is an excellent B/W film, with a good balance of speed, grain and sharpness with some evidence from this second roll of it’s increased dynamic range. The weather being as it is at the moment, it might be a while before I can give it a test under really bright sunshine….

Hope you find this useful.

p.s. if you need development times for any B/W film with any possible developer try here – The Big Dev Chart – a truly useful website!

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One thought on “Adox Silvermax – Second Impressions in D76/ID11”

Thanks as soon as I can get a roll of Silvermax I’ll probably develop in Rodinal since that is my go to developer of choice. I know it isn’t always ideal for fine grain, but it’s just so easy and cost effective!